Spartans Take Care of Terriers

Castleton, Vt. – It was an inauspicious start for Castleton, but they rebounded to score the final 10 goals of the half and dominate the rest of the contest on the way to a 16-4 victory on Sunday afternoon at Spartan Stadium.

The Spartans gave up two goals in the first five minutes, but tied it up over the next six minutes and never looked back as they captured 15 of the final 20 draw controls to improve to 2-7 and 1-0 in the North Atlantic Conference. The Terriers fell to 0-1 in the NAC and 5-4 overall.

Kate Auer was a force in the middle of the field, picking up 12 draw controls to go along with three ground balls and two goals. Jessica Taplin added a hat trick as six different players had at least two scores. Meghan Els was impressive in net, making nine saves and allowing just four goals.

Miranda Tinsman led off the game with a goal just 1:41 into the contest and Ceara Dibiase made it 2-0 at 25:42.

The Spartans responded just a minute later when Cori Healy found Jessica Taplin in front. Auer tied it up at 18:33 and Samantha Bonasera scored back-to-back goals to give Castleton a 4-2 lead with 14:31 left in the half. The Spartans scored six more times, including a goal by Sarah Clark with just 36 seconds remaining to take a 10-2 lead at the break.

In the second half Auer took the initial draw out of the air and went straight to goal, scoring just 17 seconds in. Castleton scored two more times before Thomas got one past Els at 20:36 to cut the Spartan lead to 13-3. Maddy DaCosta countered with a goal three minutes later and Castleton outscored the Terriers 2-1 over the final 17 minutes to finish with their most lopsided victory of the season.

Brittany Fox made 12 saves in net for Thomas as she took the loss.

Amanda Flodstrom had two goals and an assists, also chipping in with three ground balls and two caused turnovers. As a team, Castleton held Thomas to just 12 for 23 on clears and picked up 25 ground balls.

The Spartans return to action on Sunday when they host Maine-Farmington at 12:00 p.m..